Bees Wax....honey removal ????

[fast_muchly]

A daft question and I cant find an answer I have looked ( prob not very well ) .How do you get rid of the little bit of honey that comes along with the wax if you want to do something with the wax please.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Put the wax in an old saucepan of water. Boil carefully till wax is melted. Cool.
You will be left with a disc of clean wax on top

 

[Dishmop]

The bees might like it..

I believe you put it in a pan with water and heat and the wax floats to the top..

 

[Davelin]

Put it in a feeder and put it back on the hive.

The bees will do a far better job of cleaning it up than any other method.

 

[enrico]

Put it in a large glass bowl, put it in the microwave. melt it. ( I put it on full boost for three minutes and check every thirty seconds after that, when nearly all melted I turn it off and the rest will melt with the heat) Let it cool, make a hole in the solid floating wax, pour honey into a jar for cooking, wash wax and then put wax into solar extractor for cleaning.
It hasn't exploded on me yet

 

[itma]

Details, details! (They can matter … a lot!)

For those in hard water areas and using the "melt with plenty water" route, acidifying the water (splash of vinegar or lemon juice) helps to minimise the amount of soapy sludge formed at the water/wax boundary.



But you do have options
1/ dump the honey (as above, melting out the wax)
2/ recover the honey mechanically - commercially it is pressed out, hobbyists can buy "cappings bags" and spin them in their extractor. Thorne also offer an optional extra "cappings drier" cage for their Universal extractor series.
3/ Traditionally, the cappings washings were the raw material for making mead (don't acidify the water!)
4/ Some folk like to pre-wash the cappings in booze, straining to make a honey liqueur. Basic supermarket vodka is said to work well. (My Scottish genes make me think this would be ideal before washing for mead making! Waste not, want not!)
5/ Or you can get the bees to recycle the honey. A rapid-type feeder, with the cone lifted out, is useful for this.
After bee-scavenging, a prize-winning wax exhibitor told me that he washes his cappings (tied inside an old pillowcase) in lots of COLD water, before doing any melting.

And there may be other options (beekeepers being beekeepers!)


However, my preferred route is to use hot-air-gun uncapping. No cappings wax, and ALL the honey goes into the extractor.
Hence the problem of dealing with cappings simply does not arise.
Odd scraps of wax from inspections add up, and not being a candlemaker, I seem to be accumulating wax, even without cappings!

 

[dpearce4]

Do what veg did put in in a bucket and add a bottle of vodka. allow to stand for a week, strain and drink in moderation.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do what veg did put in in a bucket and add a bottle of vodka. allow to stand for a week, strain and drink in moderation.

it is rather good - still got some left from last year, and it's mellowed lovely

 

[VEG]

errm the wait a week bit .... I got a confession hic...